Mother's Day
by theboundseries
Summary: Written as a gift for a Tumblr follower. Jasico, clean romance. Jason finally gets Nico to open up to him...but about a tough topic.


Written as a gift for Shovelingsnowvilliers on Tumblr.

Jason smiled. He'd found him, sitting on the roof of the Hades cabin. In the sunset, Nico's figure was silhouetted against the sky. Black on orange. Black on gold.

The other boy hadn't seen him yet, so he used the winds to fly him above the roof. He hovered behind him for a moment in a silent debate with himself. His last chance to turn and go–

Was gone. Nico exhaled irritatedly, something Jason had come to expect from him. "Is there anywhere I can go that you won't follow?"

Jason let go of the winds and dropped with a thunk onto the roof. "Just seeing how you're holding up," he said.

"Fine, thanks."

"I'm just trying to help, Nico."

"I don't need your help," he muttered, but his…his heart wasn't in it. Jason climbed to the other side of the roof, careful to put as little of his weight as possible on it–supporting Nico was one thing, but Jason was a lot bigger. Now that he was next to Nico, he could see the boy more clearly. He saw a few things he expected to see: bags under his eyes, though more pronounced now than other days; his dark hair falling in his face; his blanched skin dying for the sky's touch.

But he also saw a few things he didn't see coming, like the red veins in Nico's eyes, or the way he twisted his skull ring back and forth. He definitely didn't expect the tear stains on Nico's cheeks.

He wanted to wipe them away, he wanted to make sure Nico knew not to be afraid, but he held back. Instead he stretched out on the roof on his elbows, toes barely reaching over the edge, and looked straight forward.

He couldn't pry; Jason knew from experience that if he was too nice, Nico's wall would go up, and that would be it. But he also knew that on this of all days, Nico needed him. He only hoped Nico knew the same.

"What're you thinking about?" Jason asked, not quite casually, but without inflection.

"The date," Nico said, even more expressionless. "Second Sunday of May. There's one every year."

Jason waited a few seconds before saying what Nico would never say. "Mother's Day." Nico didn't respond, but Jason knew him. That was his answer.

"Tell me what else."

He sighed, a shaky sound that made Jason's own chest ache, and said, "I knew my mother when I was little. I did, I know it, but I can't remember her now.

"She loved me," he said, and tears started streaming down his face again but neither boy acknowledged them. "I know she did. I saw a ghost-vision of her once. She wanted to protect us, take care of us…"

"Us?" Jason didn't want to interrupt for fear of breaking Nico's sudden openness, but who else was there?

"Bianca. My sister. She died last year."

_I never knew my sister._ The jealous voice, the voice that Jason suppressed for years while carrying the glorious burden of New Rome, speaks up now._ She thought I was dead for more than fifteen years_.

"My mother died too…your father killed her…"

_My mother went to Hades. Your father._

Jason didn't speak.

"And knowing that I lost my memories of her, that I knew her and never can again is just…"

_I never had a mother. I was raised by the legion, and I even lost my memories of them._

Nico's choking sobs shocked Jason out of self-pity. Nico needed him. He was letting everything out for once, finally being real and true, and Jason was thinking about himself?

Hesitantly, he placed his arm on Nico's shoulder. Nico wailed and threw himself into Jason, torrential tears trailing down his cheeks. Jason pulled him closer and kissed the top of his head before he could think.

But Nico didn't retreat, didn't put his wall back up, and Jason knew he must have felt it. Jason knew in his heart, though, that this was only a few steps forward, that he still wasn't ready to trust himself.

So Jason just pulled him close, laid his head on Nico's hair, and kissed softly every once in a while, when Nico's wails were unbearable. And slowly, Nico started to calm down.

Jason stroked Nico's hair in the front, a matted mess that didn't know where it was going or what it was doing but just went some direction and then down, and pulled it up toward him. Now he could see Nico's eyes, and he desperately wanted to kiss his forehead, but wouldn't.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Hi." The reply was nearly inaudible, but Di Immortales, it was there.

"I'm not going to tell you it could be worse," Jason whispered. "But believe me, Nico, it gets so much better."

"I know," Nico whispered. "I know."


End file.
